Registrar of Political Parties Dr Alphonse Gelu is disappointed at the “lack of commitment” from MPs in the passage of the Revised Organic Law on Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC). Gelu is disappointed because the registry has been waiting since 2014 to have the bill introduced and passed. Parliament’s session over the last two weeks was the last opportunity for the bill to be introduced and debated. But this did not happen and he will have to wait until the new parliament is in place, after this year’s general election.

The French authorities have allowed the road south of New Caledonia's capital to remain open last night after a week of closing it at night for security reasons. Just over a week ago, unidentified gunmen fired at traffic and also injured two police officers near St Louis, prompting a 36-hour closure of the only access road to the main island's south. On Friday, about 2000 people rallied outside the French High Commission to show their exasperation over the insecurity and nightly road closure which affected most residents.

A joint investigation involving Fijian, Australian and New Zealand authorities resulted in a high seas sting last week that netted 1.4 tonnes of cocaine worth an estimated $A312 million ($F490m) [US$240 million]. According to the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the bust is the biggest ever intercepted by Australian authorities. As a result of the sting, six men including a 54-year-old dual Swiss/Fijian national have been charged by the AFP.

The Government of Bougainville says it is struggling to respond to a destructive earthquake that hit the east and south of the main island last month. The 7.9 magnitude quake claimed at least two lives, caused a series of landslides, wrecked some roads, and left people homeless. It also impacted on communications.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health advised that as of February 3,2017 (last week), there was a total of 1,315 notified cases out of which 210 were confirmed positive- in the whole of Vanuatu. The Ministry and the Department of Health, with all health centres and clinics around the country are doing their very best to combat and eliminate dengue. The Ministry of Health continues to appeal to the general members of the public throughout the country to report to the nearest medical or health centres as soon as possible, if they notice or suspect symptoms as advised by the Ministry of Health and the health authorities.

Owners of solar cocoa driers around the country attended a workshop in Honiara recently to look into ways of increasing “sun-dried” cocoa sales into the lucrative global boutique. The workshop was a series of continued efforts initiated by the Australia and New Zealand funded Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access (PHAMA) Programme to improve the quality of Solomon Islands cocoa.

The United Nations' refugee agency is urging Papua New Guinea's government to ensure a refugee from Iran, who sought asylum in Fiji, is treated fairly. Loghman Sawari, 21, fled to Fiji from PNG on a fake passport.Along with his lawyer, he was on his way to meet with Fiji Immigration in Suva on Friday to seek asylum, when he was stopped by police and put on a plane back to PNG. The UN Refugee Agency said it had sought assurances from the Fiji government last week that Mr Sawari would have access to Fiji's national asylum procedures.

The U.S Coast Guard is conducting an investigation into an incident last Thursday afternoon, where the oil tanker, CSC Brave, crashed into the rear of a purse seiner vessel docked at the main-dock area where fishing nets are repaired, near the Fuel Dock. The incident, recorded on video by a person on the dock side, prompted the government to activate it’s oil spill response team, which later stood down after the all clear signal was given by the Coast Guard.

The Commonwealth Health Center, the only hospital in the CNMI, opened to the public in 1986. At the time, it was built to serve a population of less than 20,000. Today, 31 years later and with a CNMI population that is conservatively estimated at 50,000, the hospital is struggling to keep up. The more than doubling of the population and the current state of the hospital’s size means that CHC is constantly experiencing a shortage of rooms, faced as it is with high volumes of patients that are being admitted to the hospital.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.